BOULDER — Jon Embree sees similarities in his 0-2 Buffaloes and his sophomore year here in 1984. That’s not good. That 1984 team, in Bill McCartney’s third year, went 1-10. But Embree, in his second season, sees similarities in how McCartney built off that year.

“There were a lot of guys like me,” Embree said. “We had Eric Coyle, Barry Remington, Steve Beck, Darin Schubeck, Solomon Wilcots. We refused to not believe. We lost some heartbreaking games. We lost to Oregon, I think, by (two), Ohio State by three, Arizona by (three), CSU. But we never wavered.

“I shared this with the team a little bit because I know they’re getting a lot of flack on campus or wherever. That hasn’t changed. It’s part of the deal. Our mindset was it’s going to break, and it did. And the same people who booed us and were calling us names were tearing down the goalposts in October 1986 (when they beat Nebraska). That’s how it goes.”

Embree referenced the 1986 team, not 1984. Very sloppy journalism or intentional twisting of the facts to slant the article. Both are possible with this writer. Maybe less tweeting and more research would help him.

Embrees press conference in general was to compare the current situation to the 1986 team. I listened to it, you obviously didn’t. How they had a bad start and then things turned around. The 1984 reference at the beginning of the article wasn’t what Jon Embree was referencing…that was invented by Henderson to make the coach look like an idiot.

They lost close games that year, so you could see the potential to turn it around. The current Buffs are poised to have some very historically embarassing losses to Oregon and USC (50+), and Stanford, UCLA, Arizona and Fresno will crush us (35+) Sure, all this underclassmen experience will help, but the talent, depth and especially coaching gap is so wide, the BEST you can hope for is maybe 3-4 wins by the time these freshmen are seniors. Them’s the facts.

I recently moved back to CO, and was originally here from 90-95. I say this with humility and am sensitive to the athletes on CU. The program has gone from a national powerhouse to a regional pushover. If there is true interest in rebuilding, it will be a massive, multi-year effort. My question: Is anyone at CU interested? If so, get out the checkbook. The effort will start with a big name coach willing to retool and rebuild.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.